Sign up to receive Providence Business News' newsletters and breaking news alerts.

nonprofit

URI yard sale raises thousands in scholarship money

Posted:
Friday, July 5, 2013 4:55 am

By Eli Okun PBN Staff Writer

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The University of Rhode Island raised a record number of scholarship funds and gathered thousands of pounds of charitable clothing and food donations at its 10th annual Rhody the Ram Yard Sale June 9, the university announced Tuesday.

The event contributed a total of $3,371 to the Rhody the Ram endowment, currently valued at about $52,000, which provides scholarships to students who wear the school mascot costume.

Students, faculty members and staff members also rounded up roughly 1,805 pounds of clothing and 780 pounds of food to donate to Peace Dale’s Jonnycake Center. At the end of the yard sale, URI passed all unsold items on to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Rhode Island.

The university awards its Rhody the Ram scholarships to sophomore, junior and senior mascots in good academic standing. “The mascot is very important,” Gerri Beagle, human resources manager of the URI foundation and the yard’s sale founder and coordinator, said in a statement. “Rhody is the face of the university.”

The event, which attracted attendees from Connecticut and Massachusetts, relied on 30 volunteers from the URI community. Organizers stored the yard sale items at the Boss Arena for six weeks prior to the event.

Get the most up-to-date data on the Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts business community from the PBN List Center. Download and purchase PBN Lists as well as the complete Book of Lists in Excel format.